video games

The Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 as well, both launched in 2013 without backwards compatibility with previous generation games, severing the ties, if you will, with a feature that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 offered. That's why it came as such a surprise to gamers when Microsoft announced at E3 this week that the Xbox One was gaining backwards compatibility with select 360 titles. The news was so unexpected, that even Sony’s Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida admitted to Eurogamer that he was shocked as well.

Playing mobile games by using joysticks on the touchscreen is a frustrating process. There are third-party game controllers as an alternative, and they work just fine. The problem with them, however, is that they're somewhat large and they require the user to carry them around. Enter the Flitchio, a smartphone case that has a game controller built into it. This positions a pair of flat controls on the back of the case, allowing an impromptu game to be played without having to tote around a separate controller.

Dedication. It's what sets the diehard fans apart from the casual players in gaming. If you thought you could count yourself among the biggest fans of the popular Fallout series, think again. With the recent announcement of Fallout 4, gamers are eagerly awaiting their chance to jump into the latest post-apocalyptic, open-world RPG setting this November. Pre-orders began earlier this week, through the typical merchants, but one fan has decided to place his order directly with developer Bethesda. By mailing them over 2,000 bottle caps.

While E3 has already seen big announcements about the Xbox One gaining backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games, Microsoft has confirmed some additional details about ways the previous generation games can be played. Xbox One games will be able to be streamed to Windows 10 PCs later this year, and Microsoft is bringing all these features full-circle will 360 games also being playable on Windows 10. Not only that, but if you have an Oculus Rift connected to that PC, you can throw it into the gaming experience too.

If you've been paying attention to the E3 news this week, you've already heard about Shenmue 3's crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and how it's smashed records. Well, an apparent troll going by the name "Ryan Nets" seems to have had hopes that people wouldn't notice the difference between Kickstarter and similar platform Indiegogo, as that's where he put a fake fundraising campaign for Shenmue 3. Now, the good news is that the fraudulent project has already been taken down, and the better news is that no one fell for it, for it last had $0 pledged.

With E3 week still rolling out the big gaming announcements, Japanese developer Square Enix gave its presentation earlier today, revealing that the iconic RPG Final Fantasy VII will be coming to iOS before the end of this summer. You may have heard to big news earlier in the week about the long-awaited FF7 remake in HD coming to the PlayStation 4, but that's not the version of the game we're talking about. iOS will be getting a port of the original PlayStation version that was released in 1997.

One game at E3 this year that didn't get the big announcement treatment during yesterday's Xbox One and PS4 presentations is Transformers: Devastation. An action game from developers Platinum Games that features a look exactly like the old 80's Transformer cartoons. To be released this fall for the PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360, the game really ratchets up the nostalgia by getting longtime Optimus Prime actor Peter Cullen to lend his voice.

Now that we're decompressing from all the big announcements and surprises that made up the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 keynotes at E3 (and still bracing ourselves for Nintendo's), we can take a little time to check out some of the trailers we might've missed in all the excitement. We've already recapped everything from Microsoft's Xbox One presentation, so let's review Sony's now. They showed an impressive line-up of games this year, including a handful that didn't start with "Final Fantasy" and end with "VII."

While Sony's PlayStation keynote at E3 this year was full of out-of-the-blue surprises, including Final Fantasy VII and The Last Guardian, there were also some big announcements about the latest yearly installment of one of gaming's biggest franchises: Call of Duty. While the latest title, Black Ops 3, was first revealed back in April, the big PlayStation-related news is that the PS4 will be getting the multiplayer beta first this August, available to those who pre-order the full game.

A week after we were tipped off by a leak, it's now official: the next expansion for Destiny is called The Taken King, and will be released on September 15th. This will be a much larger addition to the game than the two previous expansions, The Dark Below and House of Wolves, offered, complete with a new raid activity and boss to drive the storyline, as well as a new subclass ability for each of Destiny's three classes.